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Master Gardener's Program Manager
Yvonne Savio gives advice about propagating Lemon Verbena 

TDN Newsletter: May 11th, 2012

Announcing: Organic Strawberries!! Spread the Word! Dear Gardening Friends, I know we wrote recently, but I couldn't wait to tell you that, at long last, we'll have Certified Organic Strawberries!! After searching for more than a year, we've found a source for the lovely, gourmet "Mignonette" Alpine Strawberries. Small in size, but "ambrosial" in flavor, these berries do not send out runners, making them great for small gardens, hanging baskets and borders! They are known for their abundant production, tidy appearance and excellent taste.     The Mignonettes should be ready to sell in 2-3 weeks; they'll run $15 for a 6-pack. We'll have a limited supply, so if you don't want to miss out, you can pre-order (pre-payment required.) I can't wait to plant them here at the Nursery and in nice pots for my Mom! Thank you as always, and we'll see you soon!!  Jo Anne, Alex, Joaquin, Jake & Lalo

TDN: April 20th, 2012

April 20th, 2012 Spring Events! .

Dear Gardening Friends,      These are such busy days, and the Spring weather has been unpredictable at best! I haven't written since before our Spring Sale & Food Drive, so I thought I'd give a little report: In spite of the ferocious rain & wind, many, many customers braved the weather to attend. Alex, Joaquin and Don Ernesto put up tents and tarps which helped, but it was still pretty rough.       They brought nearly 300 lbs of food donations, and together we raised $478.96 in cash donations!!! We were so grateful by the attendance and the support of our Food Drive efforts!! And tons of plants left with happy new owners!  Thank you so much to all who participated!   Click here to go to our Facebook Photo Gallery!   The Farmers Markets have been a blur... ...as Spring Fever takes hold!      We're sowing seeds as fast as we can, and it still seems there's always something we're "out" of...BASIL, for example! But finally, we'll have all our basil varieties this weekend at the Markets! Yay for basil!                                        Lemon Basil                             Purple Petra Basil                         Genovese Basil Here's my new motto: "People always garden MORE, not less!" We see the growth (no pun intended) with every season, and there are no signs of anything slowing down...to the contrary, as more and more people discover the absolute joy of growing their own food, we're just going to have to find a way to keep up! "Switching Over" to Spring...    We've also been busy getting our 25 EarthBoxes and 25 Smart Pots "switched over" to Spring crops. Much of it is done, with help from Alex and Joaquin, but I still have corn, butternut and hot peppers to plant...plus more Leeks! And more Beans! Can't wait to grow and taste fresh PINTOS! To the right is a photo of our first Leeks and below is a recipe from our friend Laura Eversz at the Larchmont Chronicle (who have been so good to us!) for an amazing sounding Leek & Potato Soup. I'll be trying this very soon!   Leek and Potato Soup    INGREDIENTS   -4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter -4 medium leeks, white and pale green parts only, coarsely chopped   -2 cloves garlic -4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes -6 cups chicken broth -1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg -1 bay leaf -1 packed cup coarsely chopped fresh spinach leaves -Salt and Pepper, to taste                                                                     -12 Borage Blossoms DIRECTIONS  1. In a large pot, heat the butter over medium-low heat. Add the leeks and garlic and cook, stirring, until the leeks are tender, about 15 minutes. 2. Add  the potatoes and cook another 5 minutes. Add the broth, nutmeg, and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.   3. With an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth and creamy. Add the spinach leaves and pulse to blend.   4. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with several BORAGE BLOSSOMS. Serve hot.   Rooftop Garden & Cover Crop...   Next Wednesday we'll plant our annual Tomato Taste Test Garden on the roof of the warehouse; we turned under the cover crop two weeks ago, so it should be broken down by then. It's amazing how fast it happens! We'll be planting all 17 new varieties, plus 3 old favorites.     Because we really want Joaquin to enjoy some homegrown tomatoes before he goes home on July 4th, we planted Early Annie & Legend very early in the season; they are two of the three  Determinates we're growing, which means they'll produce a large crop all at once. He's been such an amazing help in the Nursery (and at the Markets), he deserves to enjoy the fruits of his labors!                          Early Annie                                Sweet Tangerine                                  Legend

~The 2012 Los Angeles Garden Tour & Party~ We were very happy to have been invited back to the Getty House again this year for the fabulous Los Angeles Garden Tour & Party put on by the Windsor Square-Hancock Park Historical Society. Master Gardener Myrna Gintel leads the production of this first-class event which raises loads of money of local "greening" projects. Once again, we'll be the sole vendor, and we'll donate 20% of our sales to the Society.    KTLA reporter previews Los Angeles Garden Tour 2011 This year's recipients will be Fire Station #52 and #61 (right in our neighborhood!); Myrna had the brilliant idea to create vegetable gardens at these two stations. We love the idea...these good folks are known to be excellent cooks (with hopefully, time on their hands), so why not? The stations will also be re-landscaped in front, and additional funds will go to "greening" the median at West 6th St. & Norton. Ticket sales for this event have already exceeded last year's, but I know one can still purchase online or at the door. Event includes a self-guided tour of 6 gorgeous private gardens in the beautiful Hancock Park & Windsor Square area of L.A., a talk by arborist Darren Butler, a light supper and silent auction. The Getty House, the official residence of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is the perfect setting! Whole Foods Markets is one of the event sponsors, and today they gave us a big stack of brown handled grocery bags, which, as you all know, are the perfect mode of transport for traveling tomato plants, so we thank them for their generosity!    CLICK HERE TO LOOK AT OUR PHOTO ALBUM  FROM LAST YEAR'S GARDEN TOUR!  And not to worry... ...we'll still be in the Westlake Village Farmers Market this Sunday, too... Joaquin and I will be at the Getty House, while Alex and our friend, Juan will be at Westlake Village. Keyhole Garden - How to make an African style raised bed Things being as busy as they are, we decided not to participate in the L.A. GardenShow at the Arboretum, but we did donate lots of plants to Shawn Maestretti & the UCLA Extension Student Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects, who are creating an exciting "Keyhole Garden" for the event. It runs May 4th thru 6th if you can make it. Just some variety notes:          Silver Queen                  Kabocha                      Long Island Cheese                   Sugar Baby      Corn, Winter Squash, Melons and Pumpkins  will debut at the Markets this weekend! And in May, we're expecting to have Raspberries and Blackberries again. Also in May, we'll be receiving a VERY LIMITED quantity of Certified Organic Beauregard Sweet Potato "slips" which we'll pot up in our standard 4" pots. If you are interested, please let us know! They will sell out fast.                 Misty Blueberry                                Raspberries                              Beauregard Sweet Potato    I think that's it for now. We'll see you soon, and thanks, as always!! Jo Anne, Alex, Joaquin, Jake & Lalo

TDN Newsletter: March 2nd, 2012

March 2nd, 2012 THE TOMATOES ARE COMING! 2012 Spring/Summer Line-up! Dear Gardening Friends, Well, there's just no holding back Mother Nature, is there? This has been the mildest "winter" we can remember, and consequently, THE TOMATOES ARE COMING, THE TOMATOES ARE COMING!!!! Yes, it's true, we'll be debuting the full line-up of 53 Certified Organic varieties this very weekend!! Check out the offerings here and make a list Click here to go to our Facebook Photo Gallery! Speaking of Mother Nature (and all things Divine), I want to wish my own precious "Mama" a very Happy Birthday today!!! She is truly the biggest fan of Two Dog Nursery and my constant inspiration; I owe her everything. This is my favorite photo of us, from Mother's Day 2007. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!! I love you very much! Another Big Announcement... We're happy to report that the rest of the entire Spring/Summer line-up is also now on the website!! We have so many new varieties this year; I've gone a little crazy, I'm afraid! CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE LINE-UP! The Peppers and Eggplants are also ready now, with everything else coming right up behind. This will be our largest season yet! Some of the really fun new varieties are: Chinese Red Noodle Beans, Kabocha Squash, Ali Baba Watermelon, Pinto Beans, and Beauregard Sweet Potatoes (the latter due in May)! Some things are in limited supply, and are marked as such, so don't delay if you have your heart set on something! A QUICK REQUEST If you are still using regular brown paper handled shopping bags and don't have a second use for them...we'd love to have them!! They are the perfect way for our customers to transport tomatoes home from the Market! Some of our customers regularly bring us theirs, and I've been meaning to send out a request for more. So if you've got 'em, we'd love to have 'em! Thanks!! Another Early Arrival... Something else I wasn't expecting just yet was the arrival of our dormant transplants of Walla Walla and Cipollini Onions and American Flag Leeks! We'll have them at the Markets this weekend also. They look really great, and now is the time to plant them for Summer harvest. Check out the "Helpful Guides" we've written for growing these (as well as Potatoes, Blueberries, etc.) on our website: Click here to go to the guides. It's also prime time to plant Certified Organic Potatoes! With this lovely weather, they're sprouting up fast! So easy to grow in the 20-gallon Smart Pot! Give some a try!! COUNTDOWN TO THE SPRING NURSERY SALE & FOOD DRIVE!!! We're so busy here getting ready for our Annual Sale & Food Drive! We hope you are making plans to join us and are setting aside food donations. The need is so great, and we can all pitch in. Attached is the flyer with more details...it's printable, so you can share it with friends, or simply forward this whole newsletter. We want to sincerely thank these lovely folks for helping us promote our Spring Sale: Yvonne Savio, Director of the L.A. Master Gardener Volunteer Program and the Grow LA Victory Garden Initiative The Larchmont Chronicle (thanks Jane and Laura!!!) Moksha Yoga Los Angeles... you MUST go...it's amazing!!! JUST A COUPLE NOTES REGARDING THE SALE: Please car pool with all your gardening friends! Street parking is available, but it's best if you can come together. Please don't forget your Food Drive donations. Big bins will be out front. Please bring a flat or box if possible. Please, no pets. Jake & Lalo LOVE people...other dogs, not so much! MARATHON ALERT! Please note that the Los Angeles Marathon will be held on Sunday, March 18th, which is the second day of our weekend Sale. Click here to see the Route Map. For those of you north of us (attention all our Farmers Market customers), it would be best for you to come on Saturday to avoid the traffic snarls. For anyone coming from south of us, you could come either day. Don't worry, we have TONS of tomatoes, and I doubt we'll sell out on anything (except maybe those marked "Very Limited Supply") HONORED TO BE AT THE MAYOR'S AGAIN!! Appropriately scheduled for Earth Day this year, April 22nd, Two Dog has been invited back to Mayor Villaraigosa's home to be the sole vendor at the Annual Los Angeles Tour & Garden Party, which is a fabulous local charity. Last year's event raised more than $30,000 for the "greening" of John Burrough's Middle School; this year's recipients will be local Fire Stations #52 and #61 (ours!), and the greening of the median at W. 6th St. and Norton. The Event is put on by the amazing Windsor Square-Hancock Park Historical Society with Master Gardener, Myrna Gintel, at the helm. (Thanks Myrna for having us back. You ladies know how to get it done with class and flair!) CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE EVENT'S PAGE!! Six private homes in this gorgeous neighborhood will open their gardens to tour-goers, and afterward everyone will enjoy a lovely light dinner and silent auction at the beautiful Getty House, residence of our Mayor. It's a really fun and worthy way to spend a glorious Spring day. We'll have lots more info at our Farmers Market, so if you are interested, please let us know!! I think that's it for now...Must get outside and load the truck...here come the tomatoes! Thank you as always, and we'll see you soon! Jo Anne, Alex, Joaquin (who by the way is staying until July, YAY!!), Jake and Lalo